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Gaining the trust of financial services customers is a great proof point that reinforces HP Networking’s ability to support critical business environments. In the past, financial services were primarily thought to fall in the Cisco domain. However, with HP Networking’s open standards based portfolio, commitment to the customer and trusted partnership, HP Networking (HPN) helped secure a solid relationship with a global bank.

Background

This customer is a large bank in Europe, operating in seven countries, with over 12 million members, 60,000+ employees in 800+ locations–supported by two data centers. Until 2010 the client’s network was dominated by Cisco—that was before HPN successfully competed for and ultimately installed a network management solution. This first step in introducing non-Cisco products into the network infrastructure resulted in additional inroads when the branch network upgrade was put out for bid in 2011.

Penetrating Cisco’s turf

Financial services have traditionally been Cisco’s turf with a very high barrier to entry for other vendors. HPN, however, successfully leveraged their existing relationships as a means of gaining consideration for the branch network RFP. HPN’s unique capabilities such as a single OS, IRF and the potential for a significant TCO reduction of up to 50% got the customer’s attention.

HPN’s response to customer requirements

The successful completion of these negotiations occurred in stages and was influenced by multiple factors. First, HP was shortlisted in the RFP based on HP’s executive engagement as well as the customer’s newfound interests in HP’s capabilities. This was followed by a proof of concept (POC) which proved very successful.

A key milestone was realized when HP collaborating with the client was able to test, develop and deliver a configuration consisting of an HP 5800 switch equipped with MPLS feature for Inter-AS connectivity capability in less than 3 months.This was well within the customer’s required timeline, and reinforced HP’s commitment, to meeting the customers unique needs. With end-to-end connectivity now possible using a single HP 5800, the customer was able to eliminate the restrictive Cisco design, which dictated a separate branch router and switch, and progress to a HP ‘branch-in-a-box’ design, unlocking considerably lower TCO overall.

Eliminating the Cisco interoperability concern

Many Cisco customers are fearful of compatibility issues if they introduce non-Cisco gear to the network. HPN was able to completely put those fears to rest. The POC team used Cisco ASR9000s and developed extensive test plans that showed 100% interoperability with Cisco. As HPN products are designed to adhere to industry standards, the customer could then enable all required protocols in the initial deployment successfully!

The Winning Formula

HPN’s commitment to addressing the customer’s needs for additional features and the switches interoperability with Cisco resulted in the signing of a multi-million dollar contract.

Stay tuned for more stories on how HP Networking is penetrating large enterprise accounts and co-existing with Cisco or any other vendor and providing the customer with the benefit of having more than one vendor in their network.

Previous blogs with information on customer case studies can be accessed at: